Case Number 24515

CASTLE: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON

The Charge

Partners. In crime.

Opening Statement

After an explosive cliffhanger at the end of season three, season four of
Castle hits the ground running, with more crazy mysteries to solve, as
well as increased dramatics for the two leads, as their simmering romance boils
over.

Facts of the Case

Bestselling mystery writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion, Firefly)
and NYPD Homicide Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic, The Double)
continue to work together to solve crimes. After Beckett is shot by a sniper
after pursuing her mother's killer, she and Castle's relationship becomes
strained.

As we all know, any good mystery begins with "the hook," a big
attention-getter to draw in the audience, setting up the plot to follow:

* "Rise"The hook: Beckett is shot! Castle whispers a secret
confession! Tensions mount at the hospital!The book: Cut to later,
as Beckett tries to get her detective groove back as she rejoins Castle and the
rest, investigating a young woman's death while secretly pursuing another lead
in mother's case.

* "Heroes and Villains"The hook: A scumbag is about to attack
a woman in an alley when a mysterious figure cuts him in half with a sword.The book: The suspect is a masked vigilante, complete with swords, red
and gold body armor, and cool acrobatic moves -- a comic book superhero come to
life.

* "Head Case"The hook: A huge amount of blood is found at a
crime scene, but there's no body. (Castle: "Walking dead!")The
book: The case involves a secretive cryogenics company, delving into all
kinds of mad science, including heads in jars.

* "Kick in the Ballistics"The hook: The gun from a fatal
shooting is traced back to its owner, Detective Ryan.The book:
Turns out the gun is the one stolen from Ryan last season by the serial killer
known only as "3XK." Ryan is overcome with guilt from the killing, determined to
track down both the shooter and 3XK.

* "Eye of the Beholder"The hook: At an art exhibit, a man is
found impaled on one of the sculptures.The book: A sexy insurance
investigator joins the case, and sparks fly between her and Castle, much to
Beckett's frustration. There might be more to this third wheel than it seems,
though.

* "Demons"The hook: The host of a Ghost Hunters-type
reality show is killed by an apparently invisible force.The book:
The scene of the crime is one where several murders had been committed over the
years. Beckett wants to stick to the facts at hand, but Castle wonders what if
the killer really is a ghost.

* "Cops and Robbers"The hook: Castle and Martha are in the
wrong bank at the wrong time, when gun-toting thugs storm in take everyone
hostage.The book: Castle tries to think his way out of the
situation, while Beckett, on the outside, tries to come up with her own
solution, all while the whole city looks on in terror.

* "Heartbreak Hotel"The hook: A man in an Elvis costume is
dragged through a casino to a back room, where he faces thugs with baseball
bats. That man is...Castle?The book: To solve a case, Castle,
Esposito and Ryan do some unofficial and very illegal "off the books" sleuthing
in Atlantic City.

* "Kill Shot"The hook: A woman is shot dead on the sidewalk, a
sniper having picked her off seemingly at random.The book: The
sniper brings back memories of Beckett's shooting, shaking her to her core.
While working the case, she struggles to get her confidence back.

* "Cuffed"The hook: Castle and Beckett wake up in a strange
room, handcuffed to each other -- and not in a fun n' sexy way.The
book: Our heroes try to escape, while also trying to sort out who abducted
them, and why. And what's that clawing on the other side of the wall?

* "Til Death Do Us Part"The hook: A naked body comes flying
out of nowhere, landing on a sidewalk fruit cart. (Esposito: "Birthday suit hit
the fruit.")The book: It's the week of Ryan's wedding, so love and
drama is in the air while working the case, appropriately about a female "black
widow" killer who seduces and kills men.

* "Dial M For Mayor"The hook: A dead body is found in a City
Hall motor pool car, last used by the mayor.The book: Castle's
loyalties are divided, as the mayor is a good friend of his, and the one who
pulled strings to let him hang out with the NYPD. Castle doesn't want to believe
the mayor is involved, while Beckett insists it's a possibility.

* "An Embarrassment of Bitches"The hook: A dog show judge is
strangled by a leash.The book: Every long-running detective show
has to do a "the pet is the only witness to the crime" episode, and now it's
Castle's turn. Suspects include obsessed trainers, a reality TV star, and
a kooky canine psychologist.

* "The Blue Butterfly"The hook: Suddenly, the show takes place
in 1947.The book: In the present, a murder relates to a similar
crime from the '40s. From there, a good chunk of the episode is a '40s
flashback. The cast plays dual roles, with everyone in search of a valuable
piece of jewelry.

* "Pandora"The hook: A man is found shot, stabbed, strangled
and thrown from a window. The body later disappears from the morgue.The book: The season's big two-parter takes the show into the spy genre,
as the CIA gets involved. There, Beckett meets Castle's former muse, a sexy
female secret agent who inspired his writing before he met Beckett.

* "Lynchpin"The hook: Picking up from the previous episode's
cliffhanger, Castle and Beckett are on the verge of drowning.The
book: The spy caper takes on even more twists and turns, as our heroes
search for the titular lynchpin -- a small event that a genius predicted will
explode into a major crisis for the U.S.

* "Once Upon A Crime"The hook: A girl in a red hooded cloak is
found dead, possibly due to an animal attack.The book: Is New York
looking at a fairy tale-based serial killer? That appears to be so, as more
storybook-themed bodies pile up.

* "A Dance with Death"The hook: A TV dance show competitor is
shot backstage mere minutes before taping.The book: Is it a
reality show competition gone out of hand, or something more? Similarly, Martha
squares off against a sharp-tongued theater critic.

* "47 Seconds"The hook: A bomb goes off at an anti-Wall Street
protest.The book: The show does its own spin on Rashomon,
as the many witnesses to the blast have different stories to tell.

* "The Limey"The hook: A dead woman in a hotel room. A man
removes a piece of her clothing and kisses her before fleeing the scene.The book: A hunky Scotland Yard inspector joins the case, just as Castle
and Beckett are starting to grow apart, forcing Beckett to question how she
really feels about Castle.

* "Headhunters"The hook: A homeless man comes across a
teenager's body -- and three severed heads.The book: While Beckett
is busy preparing for a trial, Castle finds a new source of inspiration,
Detective Slaughter (Adam Baldwin, Fillion's costar from Firefly), a
cracks-skulls-and-ask-questions-later tough guy.

* "Undead Again"The hook: The only witness to a murder claims
the killer is...a zombie?The book: Amid what looks to be a zombie
apocalypse, Castle fears he and Beckett have become too distant, and he wonders
if it's time to end their partnership. Also, sardonic medical examiner
Perlmutter (Ayre Gross, The Experts) makes his once-per-season
appearance.

* "Always"The hook: It begins with a cliffhanger -- literally,
as Beckett's hanging by her fingertips off the side of a New York rooftop.The book: What appears to be a routine burglary leads to Captain
Montgomery, which leads to the ongoing mystery of who murdered Beckett's mother.
As Beckett sacrifices everything to find the killer, she and Castle confront
each other about what they really feel.

The Evidence

Castle: "Do you know what Laney and Esposito were fighting about?"Beckett: "Everything. They both want to be together, but neither of
them wants to admit it."Castle: "Ugh. Why do people do that to
themselves?"Beckett: "Maybe they just don't see it."Castle: "How could they not? It's so obvious."

This season, the "will-they-won't-they" thing between Castle and Beckett
reaches critical mass. The creators have stretched the sexual tension as much as
they can. It's time to, as a great philosopher once said, "sh*t or get off the
pot." The setup this season is that Beckett knows how Castle really feels about
her, but he doesn't know she knows. She's not ready to act o her knowledge until
after she's sufficiently dealt with the trauma of being shot. From Castle's of
view, this appears as though she's being distant, and in the latter half of the
season, his eyes wander toward other relationship possibilities. On the surface,
this is all a nice excuse for the two to continue their partnership for a while
longer, so we can have one more season of our quirky detective show. Yet it's
gone as far as it can -- after everything these characters have gone through,
they've reached the point where it can't go on any longer it's time for either
true love, going separate ways, or the dreaded, oh-so-evil "just friends." The
big moment comes in the season finale, "Always." It's a beautiful episode that
gets to the heart of what the show is about, and yet viewers' enjoyment of the
big moment will be based on what happens next.

Before we get to that, though, there's a lot of fun to be had. Chief among
the positives is the whip-smart dialogue. Everything, from big dramatic scenes
to small expository bits, are written with clever wordplay and sharp witticisms,
delivering this dialogue is a cast that has clearly gelled over four seasons.
Stana Katic shows Beckett's more serious side in the aftermath of her shooting.
Fillion, then, is freed up to geek out in more humorous episodes. It's a busy
season for Seamus Deaver, as Ryan deals with the possible return of 3XK, and
then with the ups and down of getting married. Esposito and Laney have similar
ups and downs with their romance while fulfilling their roles around the station
-- him as the down-to-Earth tough guy and her as the sassy,
smarter-than-everyone-else medical examiner.

Castle's daughter Alexis gets put through several subplots this season, with
her separation from boyfriend Ashley, to fretting over college acceptances, to a
new internship that makes her one of the team at the police station. Some
viewers might annoyed at her constant moping about Ashley and/or Stamford, but
Alexis's constant heartbreak represents change. She's often portrayed as the
"grownup" in her and Castle's relationship, but now that it's time for her to
grow up for real, that puts her and Castle in a new place. When Alexis worries
about her future, Castle tries to assure her that everything will be OK, but,
despite being the quick-witted writer he is, he just can't find the right words.
This shows that they're both entering uncharted emotional territory. Martha,
meanwhile, provides comic relief and occasional words of wisdom, while opening
her own acting school, holding classes in Castle's living room.

This is the year the creators went nuts with theme episodes. It's nothing
new -- previous seasons gave us stuff like a vampire episode and a steampunk
episode, but this time around, though, it feels like a theme episode every other
week. There' the superhero episode, the zombie episode, the haunted house
episode, the fairy tale episode, the two-part spy caper, and more. The writers
walk a fine line by introducing these outrageous elements, although things never
get so absurd that they destroy the overall tone of the series. Instead, the
creators get to have their quirky mysteries and their superhero/zombie carnage
as well.

Two episodes deserve specific mention. "Cuffed" appears to be a Saw
ripoff in its first few minutes, but then takes one crazy turn after another, to
become something truly offbeat and exciting. "The Blue Butterfly" is the most
gimmicky episode of the season, but, again, the creators pull if off with a deft
hand. There's a sense that the 1940s setting is just an excuse for the actors to
play dress-up, but the real fun is seeing them play multiple roles. Because it's
a one-off, we get to see some real resolution for the characters' 1940s
versions, a pleasant contrast to the "stretch-it-out" nature of a series.

All 23 episodes are on this five-disc set. Picture and audio continue to be
stellar, with brilliant detail, and immersive sound. A handful of episodes get
commentaries with producers, writers and actors, featuring behind-the-scenes
anecdotes and pointing out small details viewers might have missed the first
time around. A couple of featurettes take us behind the scenes, first with a
in-depth look at the sinking car stunt from the season's big two-parter, and the
second a look at legendary TV director Chuck Bowman, father of prolific
Castle director Rob Bowman, who brought his decades of experience to
directing "The Blue Butterfly." From there, we get an extended look at the
show's actors participating in the "The Thrilling Adventure Hour" podcast,
complete with footage from the shows, which are recorded before a live audience.
It's only tangentially related to the show, but there's some fun stuff here.
We're also treated to deleted scenes and outtakes.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

A new face this year is Captain Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald, Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine). As a contrast to the late Captain Montgomery, who was a
father figure around the police station, Gates is more adversarial. She doesn't
like Castle and she doesn't approve of Castle's partnership with Beckett. Thing
is, most of this tension she adds isn't relevant to the ongoing arcs. Often,
she's just a mean boss for the sake of being a mean boss. To be fair, the
creators make some attempt to humanize her later in the season. Also, because
she's so by the books, this forces our heroes to investigate Beckett's mother's
murder in secret. That's all well and good, but the tension she brings still
rings hollow.

Then there's cross-promotion. The dance competition/reality TV episode comes
off like an unofficial ad for Dancing with the Stars and other crap shows
like it. The superhero episode is great fun, but the many Marvel Comics
references -- and the prominent display of Deadly Storm, Marvel's
Castle tie-in graphic novel -- reek of promoting the new partnership
between Disney (ABC's parent company) and Marvel. I know multi-million dollar
prime time network shows have to do stuff like this to keep costs in line, but
do they have to be so obvious about it?

Closing Statement

This season has a little something for everyone. Episodes like "Rise" and
"Kill Shot" are Castle at its darkest and most dramatic, while episodes
like "Heroes and Villains" and "Heartbreak Hotel" are the show at its silliest
and most comedic. The rest of the episodes can be found in various parts in
between.

If you're not watching Castle, you're missing out on some pure TV
fun. Although the show is poised for everything to change in big ways in the
upcoming Season Five, don't let that stop you from enjoying season four, as it's
some of the most exciting and creative work the show's done to date.